


Day Fifteen: "That lucky charm you gave me hasn't been so lucky."

by sparrowhaven



Series: Final Fantasy 14 Writing Challenge March 2021 [15]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: 31 Days Writing Challenge, Dual WoL AU, Exact words, Fae & Fairies, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 21:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30095232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparrowhaven/pseuds/sparrowhaven
Summary: Feo Ul has gifts for their beloved saplings!You know what they say about Fae gifts, though...
Series: Final Fantasy 14 Writing Challenge March 2021 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2190222
Kudos: 2





	Day Fifteen: "That lucky charm you gave me hasn't been so lucky."

**Author's Note:**

> Technical difficulties kept me from posting this yesterday so I'm posting this and the next one today.
> 
> I used Gaelic to help make the pixie language work with me here so I apologize to anyone who speaks Gaelic, google translate is my only source for it.

“Ah! One of my <adorable twin saplings!>” Feo Ul cried as Lara froze in the doorway. She’d been expecting Roger in the apartment. Maybe a brooding Ardbert. That she was seeing the pixie that she had bonded with at the start of her journey wasn’t _unpleasant_ just…awkward. 

Luckily she could recover easily enough. With a bright smile, she called out, “Hey, Feo Ul!” Lara looked around. “Is there, uh, anything bad about to happen? King related business that you need help with? I can go get Roger if that’s the case…”

With a boisterous laugh that sent them into a flying loop-de-loop in the air, the red pixie hovered close enough to squish Lara’s cheeks. “Nay, my precious gold-and-fire hair sapling. I’ve already seen my other <adorable twin sapling> and given my latest charm to him. Now I bestow upon you _this_ token of luck!” Feo Ul let go of her long enough to tangle up something in Lara’s hair. Setting themself back far enough to admire their work, the King of Pixies (in their more diminutive piece that mostly interacted with their saplings) declared, “There! A proper charm now for my dearest sapling!”

Lara really hoped that she was allowed to take it out of her hair. “You’re most kind, Feo Ul,” And, since she was _seriously_ trying to get a grasp of the language that the pixies used, she added, “<Adore beauty my branch>.” She winced at the “translation” that her Echo so helpfully provided. It was the most ironic gift ever. She could understand any language and be understood if she needed to be, but actually _attempting_ to learn a language when someone says a word and her head says another…

No wonder Roger declined language learning with Urianger. 

Feo Ul laughed even harder than before. “‘Tis nearly right! A bit more practice and you will be calling for me every moment that you have the need. Be seeing you!” And with that, they turned into a ball of light and flitted out the window. She waited until all of the sparkles in the air had well and truly faded before dislodging whatever it was that the pixie had tied into her hair. 

What she found was a silver bell. There was nothing tying it anywhere, save for the gold strands that were left over from Feo Ul’s work. There also wasn’t anything inside the bell to make it ring. It was odd…but in a cute way. 

“A charm from the pixie, eh?” Ardbert leaned into view, startling Lara. He ignored her reaction to examine the bell closer. “Back in my day it was said that gifts from the Fae could lead to great fortune…” His brown eyes flicked up to meet hers. “Or great despair. All things considered, I say you leave the bell here before you go out again. And whatever it is that they gave to Roger.”

Lara snorted. “Feo Ul wouldn’t give me something that would harm me.” She headed to the platform that contained both hers and Roger’s beds and made a beeline for where her less important things were being stored. “I’m one of her precious twin saplings, like you heard.” With a bit of searching, she turned up a white ribbon that she quickly used to tie the soundless bell to her wrist. “Plus isn’t it also bad luck to refuse a gift of the Fae?” It was a half remembered lesson from when Urianger had spent a couple of days trying to describe all of the intricate rules that the various races of Il Mheg lived by. When it was clear that the two of them couldn’t memorize everything immediately, he’d sighed and gave a few more concise rules of thumb for dealing with the Fae. Concise for his standards, at least.

“Aye, but that don’t mean their gift’s gonna be any good to you either.”

“It’s a luck charm! What’s the worst that could happen?”

——-

Urianger started when he beheld the severely disheveled sight of the Warriors of Darkness. “Oh my. It seemeth thou both hath run into troubles aplenty.”

“You have _no_ idea.” Roger didn’t even bother to clear a spot of books. He marched to a spot on the wall that was the least occupied and slid down it with a prolonged groan.

Lara moved to join him, but hissed in pain. Without another word, Urianger cast a couple of healing spells on the both of them. In moments, the Warriors of Darkness both breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Didst thou fight a horde of monsters?” 

“I _wish_ it had just been monsters.” Lara rolled her shoulders as the soreness faded. “We’ve just had trouble after trouble since yesterday.”

Roger counted the ways on his fingers. “Everything keeps _breaking_ , I’ve been tripping over myself way more than I used to, we pissed off this amaro that used to be real friendly and it dropped us in a _lake_.”

Urianger froze. “Thou canst mean–”

“Yeah, we almost got dragged back to Dohn Mheg. Thank _every single god_ that we have that water breathing blessing…” She once again moved to sit next to her best friend when her foot collided against a footstool. A crack resounded around the library and Lara’s face contorted with pain again. “Oww…” Her voice came out as a whimper. 

He moved to tend to what _sounded_ like a broken toe (though gods knew how Lara was able to do so when she was still wearing boots). As he used his own aether to heal her again, a card he drew from his star globe brought his attention to the ribbon on her wrist. On it was a silver bell with no clapper. Urianger’s eyes narrowed at it. “When did thou receiveth this bell, young Lara?”

She blinked a couple of times as the magic quickly got to work. “Uh…yesterday, actually. Feo Ul called it a luck charm.”

That was explanation enough. “Didst thou both not listen to mine lecture when I mentioned gifts of the Fae?”

“Er…” Roger scratched at his face and looked away. 

“Uh…” Lara looked upwards before snapping her fingers. “They can cause great fortune!”

“Or quite the opposite.” He indicated the bell. “What were the _exact_ words of thine pixie?”

“Feo Ul…said it was a luck charm,” Lara repeated. 

“Didst they mention good or ill luck whatsoever?”

She stared at him, then her eyes widened with realization as she looked down at the bell. “They didn’t.”

Roger groaned even louder than before. “Why do the Fae _do_ this stuff…”

“‘Tis merely their nature as mischievous creatures, young Roger. Feo Ul, while they hast many duties as King of the Pixies, will still desireth to delight in seeing even their sune yaks contend with the gifts they hast given unto them.” He nodded as the magic faded and Lara was once again healed. “Nevertheless, ‘tis most unfortunate that their gifts hath caused thee such ill luck. ‘Twoud be best to leave thine gifts in thine quarters until such time that Feo Ul forgets they hath given their saplings such charms.”

“And we can’t just…say no to future gifts?” Roger pondered even as he took out the pendant that the pixie had given to him. 

“I’m afraid the consequences of refusing would be far worse than those of accepting their gifts.”

“Well crud.” Lara muttered.

While the two were quietly contemplating their fate, Urianger offered, “Perhaps ‘twould be wise for me to accompany you both back to the Crystarium. Thine healing abilities are quite remarkable, young Lara, however having a second in reserve may be what your ill luck needs to turn back to the good.”

With the voice of someone who hadn’t really heard what was spoken to them, she responded with, “Sounds good.” Then her focus landed on him with startling strength. “Hey can I ask you a question?”

“Whatever it is you wish to know, I will endeavor to answer.” 

“Do you know what cúpla sune yaks means?” Lara’s mouth didn’t move in the correct way to pronounce the words, but Urianger heard the phrase pronounced the way it should be said. He forced the scholar part of his mind to back down from the opportunity to marvel at yet another side effect of one possessing the Echo to go over the phrase she said. 

It couldn’t be…could it?

“Aye,” He answered neutrally. Roger sat up from his spot against the wall, watching the both of them. It didn’t take long for her to start rambling about what she was really asking.

“Okay so…” She tugged at a strand of her hair and twined it around a finger. “Feo Ul always calls us that. And the Echo makes it sound like she’s calling us ‘adorable twin saplings.’ I just want to know if there’s anything significant about it.”

“We’ve been over this, Lara, they just mean that we’re her two saplings!” Roger called out. “The Echo made it sound like that so that we’d understand what they meant better!”

“But we _don’t_ know if that’s true!” She turned her deep blue eyes up to meet his own. “Well?”

Urianger granted her a moment’s pause while he thought of what to say. “…If it beith thine conclusion that the words of Feo Ul meaneth what you say, then that is so. As I do not possesseth the Echo, I can only interpret language by having been taught it. Twin can be used to mean two in many languages.”

“See! I told you!”

Lara continued to stare at him for a moment before looking away again when she failed to find what it was she was looking for. “Okay. Guess I was just thinking too hard.” She sighed and rubbed at a temple. “Let’s get back to the Crystarium and soon.” Roger made another groan as he helped himself stand. 

“We’ll meet you outside when you’re ready.” He said to Urianger as the two left the library.

“I shall be but a moment.”

As soon as the Warriors of Darkness had well and truly exited, he gave a deep frown. 

If Feo Ul had meant to call Roger and Lara their two adorable saplings, they would have called them “a dó sune yaks” in the language of the Pixies. They specifically used the phrase “cúpla sune yaks.” Twin adorable saplings. 

There was only one possible conclusion to be drawn from that. Pixies were the most well known among the Fae folk to use their exact words in order to not lie.

Among other sudden realizations and connections, Urianger couldn’t help but marvel at how this also explained why the pixies in particular all adored the Warriors of Darkness so. The ancient texts described the race as being quite drawn towards _twins_.

**Author's Note:**

> At this point in time in the AU, there are four adults who know that Lara and Roger are twins. 
> 
> Krile found out on [Day Seven](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29915970) of my Writing Challenge.
> 
> Y'shtola has accurate suspicions, but hasn't confirmed it yet.
> 
> As for the fourth...do you remember who _introduced_ the Warriors of Light/Darkness to Feo Ul...?
> 
> :3c


End file.
